英语每日一练

　　Directions: In this section, you are required to read one quoted blog and the comments on it. The blog and comments are followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer and mark your answer on the Answer Sheet.

　　One of the central principles of raising kids in America is that parents should be actively involved in their children’s education: meeting with teachers, volunteering at school helping with homework, and doing a hundred other things that few working parents have time for. These obligations are so baked into American values that few parents stop to ask whether they’re worth the effort.

　　Until this January, few researchers did, either. In the largest-ever study of how parental involvement affects academic achievement, Keith Robinson and Angel L.Harris, two sociology professors at Duke, found that mostly it doesn’t. The researchers combed through nearly three decades’ worth of surveys of American parents and tracked 63 different measures of parental participation in kids’academic lives, from helping them with homework, to talking with them about college plans. In an attempt to show whether the kids of more-involved parents improved over time, the researchers indexed these measures to children’s academic performance, including test scores in reading and math.

　　What they found surprised them. Most measurable forms of parental involvement seem to yield few academic dividends for kids, or even to backfire(适得其反) -regardless of a parent’s race, class, or level of education.

　　Do you review your daughter’s homework every night? Robinson and Harris’s data show that this won’t help her score higher on standardized tests. Once kids enter middle school, parental help with homework can actually bring test scores down, an effect Robinson says could be caused by the fact that many parents may have forgotten, or never truly understood, the material their children learn in school.

　　While Robinson and Harris largely disproved that assumption, they did find a handful of habits that make a difference, such as reading aloud to young kids (fewer than half of whom are read to daily) and talking with teenagers about college plans. But these interventions don't take place at school or in the presence of teachers, where policymakers have the most influence - they take place at home.

　　Comment 1:

　　Basically the choice is whether one wants to let kids to be kids. Persistent parental involvement and constantly communicating to the kids on what the parents want consciously or unconsciously would help the kids grow up or think like the parents sooner than otherwise.

　　Comment 2:

　　It also depends on the kid. Emotional and social maturity have a lot to do with success in college and in life. Some kids may have the brains and are bored by high school, but that doesn’t mean they are ready for college or the work place.

　　Comment 3:

　　The article doesn’t define “helping,” but I understand it as actually assisting children in the exercises (e.g. helping them to solve a math problem) and/or reviewing their work for accuracy rather than simply making sure they’ve completed their work. I think the latter is more helpful than the former. I would also certainly hope that no study would discourage parents from monitoring their children’s performance!

　　1. The word “they” (para. 1) refers to _____.

　　A. principles

　　B. studies

　　C. obligations

　　D. values

　　2. What is the main conclusion of the Robinson and Harris’s study?

　　A. Parental involvement may not necessarily benefit children

　　B. The kids of more-involved parents improve over time

　　C. School should communicate with parents regularly

　　D. Parental involvement works better with low-achievers.

　　3. Comment1 suggests that _____.

　　A. kids should be kids after all

　　B. parents should leave their children alone

　　C. persistent parental involvement is a must

　　D. parents may influence children’s thinking

　　4. The writer of Comment 2 would probably agree that _____.

　　A. getting ready for college is an emotional process

　　B. high intelligence does not guarantee success

　　C. high school is often boring in the U.S.

　　D. social maturity is sufficient to achieve success in life

　　5. Which of the following parental helps will the writer of Comment 3 consider proper?

　　A. Monitoring kids’ class performance.

　　B. Reviewing kids’ homework for accuracy.

　　C. Making sure kids have finished their work

　　D. Assisting kids in their exercises.

——————————————

正确答案

　　1.【答案】C

　　【考点】语义推断

　　【解析】 第一段中的“they”指的是什么?

　　第一段的最后一句所述：These obligations are so baked into American values that few

　　parents stop to ask whether they’re worth the effort. 即这些义务深深地植入了美国人的价值观，很少有父母会停下来问参与到孩子的学习中是否值得。因此选C项“义务”符合原文。

　　【误项排除】A项“原则”，B项“学习”，D项“价值”，该三项与原文不符合。

　　2.【答案】A

　　【考点】细节推断

　　【解析】 罗宾逊和哈里斯的研究得出的主要结论是什么?

　　第二段的第二句：杜克大学的社会学教授凯思·罗宾森和安琪·哈里斯关于家长参与

　　到孩子的教育是如何影响学业成绩的问题做了有史以来最大规模的研究，并发现大多数情况下并没有影响。因此选A项“家长的参与未必会让孩子受益”符合题意。

　　【误项排除】B项“家长更多地参与孩子的学习会不断地提升孩子的成绩”是他们想

　　证明的内容，但不是结论;C项“学校应与家长经常沟通”和D项“对于成绩差的学生，家长的参与效果更好”原文没有提及。

　　3.【答案】D

　　【考点】细节推断

　　【解析】 评论1的看法是什么?

　　根据评论1的内容，可知家长的参与孩子的学习和生活将有助于孩子的成长或让孩

　　子拥有类似于家长的思维方式。因此选D项“家长可能会影响孩子的思维”符合原文。

　　【误项排除】A项“孩子毕竟是孩子”，B项“家长应该不要干涉孩子的事”，C项“家

　　长持续性地参与到孩子的事是不可或缺的”，该三项不符合原文。

　　4.【答案】B

　　【考点】细节推断

　　【解析】 评论2的作者可能会认同哪种看法?

　　根据评论2的内容，可知这也取决于孩子。情感和社会的成熟与要在大学和人生中取

　　得成功有很大关系。有些孩子可能有头脑，甚至厌倦高中学习，但这并不意味着他们为上大学或职场生活做好了准备。因此选B项“高智商的孩子并不意味着成功”符合原文。

　　【误项排除】A项“准备上大学是一种情感经历”，C项“在美国的高中学校经常是

　　无趣的”，D项“社会成熟足以获得人生的成功”，都与原文不符合。

　　5.【答案】C

　　【考点】细节推断

　　【解析】 评论3的作者认为下面哪种家长的帮助方式是合适的?

　　根据评论3的内容我对帮助的理解是在孩子做练习时协助孩子(比如说帮助他们解决

　　一道数学题)并且/或者是检查他们的作业是否正确而不仅仅是确保孩子完成了作业。我认为后者比前者更有用，可知C项“确保孩子完成了作业”符合题意。

　　【误项排除】A项“监督孩子在班上的表现”，B项“检查孩子的作业是否正确”，D项“协助孩子做练习”，该三项不符合题意。